Another Fraud BUSTED !!!  Forever Flashlight - No Batteries ??

The Faraday principle flashlight showed up on the market about 6 years ago, most of us have seen them, but for the amount of light they put out -wimpy at best- you probably wanted to wait till the price came down a bit.  Now we see knock-offs selling very cheap.

I decided to check out one of the -super deals- offered by a -Power Seller- on Ebay to see if the offer was too good to be true.  It was!

It looks like the real thing - but is it  1. a generic copy ?

2. a COUNTERFEIT ?

or  3. JUST PLAIN FRAUD !!

The auction was for 6 forever flashlights wholesale, and among other claims - no batteries ever - totally waterproof - and maintenance free.

I won the auction with a bid of $1.26 and even with the excessive $14.95 S&H it was still under $20.  They arrived about 10 days later loose in a box without even a wad of newspaper to cushion them.  I opened up one and when I tried to turn the switch on, I realized how cheap the molded plastic case and switch were.  It wouldn't budge.  I eventually forced the switch to move and the LED lit up.  I figured it must have really gotten shaken up during shipment.  I shook it for about a minute and the light was about the same.  I tested a few of the others.  Only one had a switch that would slide without brute force. But they all lit up.

I figured I could take one of them apart to see if I could make the switch move more easily.  I probably would ruin the -waterproof seal- but figured it wouldn't be any good if it couldn't be easily turned on.

I unscrewed the cap and the parts just fell out.  No waterproof seal!

Then I looked a little closer at the innards - WHAT A POS!

Take a look - no waterproof seal, no circuts on the board, are those silver disks - BATTERIES !!!  What a crook!  This thing is not worth 10 cents.

Above - the back side of the circut board - with no circuts - nothing!

You don't need any fancy circuts to power the LED if you have these-

a 3 volt coin battery

Above - the wires from the coil are not even connected

Why go to the trouble to make it look like a real -Forever Flashlight-?? Because nobody would buy them if they were advertised as a 10 cent LED flashlight selling for $3.

Don't get suckered into this scam, but if you do, at least blast EBAY and any other party involved with a formal complaint.

A TIP  - If you look closely at the photos on some auctions you can actually see the batteries - compare with the photos above.  There are lots of these for sale at any given time, some in lots of  6, 30, 50 and even 100 units.  There might be some listed in the right column of this page under the heading of  - similar item listed on EBay !!! >>>>>>

Contact me if you have had similar experience.

Check out my other guide on COUNTERFEIT XUFOs

HOW TO get your money back ! -  If a vendor sent you a fake like this, I doubt that a request for a refund will work, but try.  Next take pictures as I did above and explain to PayPal or Ebay that the item you got was a fraud or fake.  Use this guide if you want.  You can get a full refund including shipping, I did!!  The most important thing is to do everything you can, email, complaints, file a claim.  Keep it clean but assertive.  DO NOT ACCEPT GETTING RIPPED OFF !!  It just feeds the thieves.

And please vote below, the more people who click yes below the higher up on the list of guides it will be - and more people will be aware of this scam.  I would like to put a BIG dent in the amount of cash these thieves are stealing from their victims.  Besides, it only takes a click and will let me know if it was worth my time to write this.

Thanks